Thanks to the time zone changes, my circadian rhythm was totally messed up, so I was up early, while everyone else slept in…well, not everyone. My mom was in the kitchen already starting the cooking/baking/prep and one set of Aunt and Uncle were off for their AM walk. I sat in the kitchen with my mom and made myself a big mug of coffee.
My parents have the same froth machine as I do, so I made a nice perfectly foamy (and lactose free) coffee.
Then I got ready for company (since people were coming over before noon I figured pajamas weren’t quite fancy enough). Naturally, the second after I was dressed I was sent to the store for last minute groceries, followed by lots of chores in the kitchen. Check out the massive trays of root vegetables, including rutabaga, turnips, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, and carrots.
My parents are hippies, so all leftover scraps (and I mean ALL leftover scraps) go into the compost bin, which sits prominently on the kitchen counter top. Literally every shaving of the rutabaga skin to banana peel to coffee grounds goes into the thing, so it was DEF due to be emptied after all the chopping and slicing and dicing for our x-mas meal.
Here’s one of the 2 bins that’s in the kitchen (it smells great).
Here’s my mom dumping it into the huge compost bin in the backyard. Yes, that swing set in the background is STILL there from when we were young! Churn it up a bit with the hand help hoe, and voila, you have your own “fresh” home-made fertilizer! Yes, green takes on a whole new meaning at our house…
Environmentally friendly. LOVE it!!
Some family shots:
Youngest sister, g-ma, me.
Bart and Uncle Matt.
Appetizer #1 (carrots, ginger snaps, and Trader Joe’s hummus). Sabra is still my fave hummus, but TJ’s is a close runner up.
Appetizer #2 (crackers and brie) – I didn’t have any of this one, although I did borrow a few of those whole wheat sesame seed crackers to dip in hummus.
Murphy Goode “Liar’s Dice” zin was the drink of choice for the night. Wine-o fam that we are, of course we had to have a zin with our own grapes š
Middle sister pouring water for the grown up table.
The kids table.
Mom and youngest sister getting the potatoes out of the cauldron.
Middle sister pondering the most efficient way to fill the water pitcher.
Stuffing! My portion was set aside separately, since it was made with veggie broth, rather than stuffed in the bird.
It did have walnuts š but I managed to avoid most of them.
Btw, peels left on = way better taste AND quicker prep. Two thumbs up for no more potato peeling!
From top to bottom, bowl of weird flavored croutons for a salad I didn’t try, then wild rice with butternut squash, and finally the root vegetables (my FAVE).
Here’s my plate…mostly root veggies, a bit of cranberry jelly, mashed potatoes, wild rice/butternut squash, and vegan stuffing.
The wild rice with butternut squash was a new recipe, and I really really liked it. I never would have thought to use butternut squash like that, but it was so good. The cranberry sauce was as amazing as ever. I only like the Ocean Spray canned kind, ridges and all…nothing else compares, I don’t care how fake and sugary it tastes, it’s the best. The stuffing was good, but I was caught off guard with the walnuts. Everyone else loves them, though, so that’s a battle I’ll never win. Hands down, the best of the meal were the root vegetables. OMG, I just love ’em. Sweet potatoes, turnips, and brussels, oh my! All they had on them was EVOO, salt and minced sage. Easy peasy!
These were GOOOEY…
